Spanikopita

I have no idea if this is at all authentic.  I really just guessed at the ingredients and ratios, and have no clue if this is like the real thing or not.  It tastes really good.  It is nice, fresh, and tangy.  The idea came about when I made this spinach and ricotta pie.  The filling tasted similar to Spanikopita so I thought I would try to turn it into that Greek pastry that I love so much.  This recipe doesn't really resemble that pie too closely either, but it was the source of inspiration. This was my first experience with Phyllo dough.  It was not as hard as I had expected, though it was a bit tricky to not tear the dough.  I definitely had to throw a few sheets away because they were so badly torn.  It did take a long time to assemble all of my triangles, but it wasn't bad. 

Spanikopita

1 lb fresh spinach, cooked and chopped
6 oz feta cheese
5 oz creamy goat cheese
1 bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
Juice from 1/2 small lemon
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 package (2 rolls) of phyllo dough, thawed


Put all of the ingredients, except for the butter and the dough, into a medium bowl and mix well.  I found it helpful to add my spinach while it was still warm in order to melt the cheeses and help everything to mix better. This can be made the day before.  Refrigerate until ready to use.



Open up one package of phyllo dough and cover it with a damp towel.  Remove one piece of phyllo, leaving the rest under the towel to keep the unused dough from drying out, and lightly brush it with melted butter.  Lay one more sheet of dough on top of your buttered piece.  Brush this one with butter too.  Now fold the two sheets in half to make one long rectangle.  place a scoop of filling onto one end of your rectangle.  Roll it into a log shape, or fold it corner-to-corner to make a triangle.  Brush both sides of the outside of the dough with butter and place on a cookie sheet.  Repeat these steps with the remaining dough and filling.

/

I had used up all of my filling and still had a good amount of dough left so I made a few pastries filled with goat cheese and a tiny bit of honey.  They were delicious as well.  Really, what wouldn't taste good wrapped in layers of flaky dough and a lot of butter?


Once you are done rolling up all of your triangles, or whatever shape you pick, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Cook these until golden brown-about 30 minutes.  In the future, I may try cooking them at a higher temperature for less time, but 350 degrees worked well too.   Allow to cool slightly and dig in.  Let me know what you think after you try them!